Apparatus for taping coils



April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS 19 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 24, 1958 y ,4 INVENTOR.

WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL BY 6% MM4 ATTORNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,08

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS Filed Oct. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 3 H6 I24 122A INVENTOR.

2 WASHYINGTON J. CALDWELL ATTORNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS l9 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 24, 1958 INVENTOR. WASH INGTO N J. CALDWELL BY M7, Milken ATTORNEYS fim 03 $9 $5 .u m mvm |||l||\ h E. 2w l Z If N8 NS m\ I q n Om? 0? w w 0 $3 M 0 $9 mm \V w v mm 3 $2 NB 32 8% m mm a- E: Sa o m E w: F g \l\ April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS Filed 001.. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 5 a 4 INVENTOR.

WAS H l NGTON J. CALDWELL ATTORNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS Filed 001;. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR.

5 wAsH meToN J. CALDWELL ,dimwimzm ATTORNEYS April 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

\ APPARATUS FOR TAPING cons Filed Oct. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 7 INVENT 5;]. 7 W/ S HlNGT0N J. CALD LL ,imflwall ATTORNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS 1,9 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed 001;. 24, 1958 76A L 76 i I INVENTOR. WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL BY 7. f y

ATTORNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COIL-S Filed Oct. 24, 1958 1 Sheets-Sheet 9 INVENTOR. WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL ,mymzn ATTORNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS Filed Oct. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 10 406 404 382 384 3 37 l 1 L L I /'380 400A I In 396 74 INVENTOR. WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL BY 7 i ATTORNEYS April 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS IN VEN TOR.

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ATTORNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

APPARATUS FOR TAPING cons Filed Oct. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 1s IN VEN TOR.

WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS Filed 001;. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 14 332 330 mum m lg 350 5 4 346 Q 368 $3 33\8 340 352 354 I I H 344 INVENTOR. 4 l 'IEZ 1l WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL 7 ATTgRNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS Filed Octv 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 15 54 INVENTOR. WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL BY 4 dim ATTORNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS Filed Oct. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 16 IN V EN TOR.

a- .43 WASEIINGTON J. CALDWELL w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS A ril 9, 1963 19 Sheets-Sheet 17 Filed Oct. 24, 1958 INVENTOR. WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL BY MyM ATTORNEYS April 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS Filed Oct. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 18 IN VEN TOR.

WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL 8 47, ATTORNEYS April 9, 1963 w. J. CALDWELL 3,084,879

APPARATUS FOR TAPING COILS Filed Oct. 24, 1958 19 Sheets-Sheet 19 To Fluid 644 l Pressure INVENTOR.

WASHINGTON J. CALDWELL ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,884,879 APPARATUS FOR TAPING- COILS Washington .I. Caldwell, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to The Electric Auto-Lite Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Oct. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 769,386 14 Claims. (Cl. 242-6) This invention relates to taping machines, more particularly to machines for positioning flexible insulating tapes on coils of non-circular conformation for the purpose of insulating these coils for use in electrical devices such as motors and generators or the like.

The problem of insulating coils for use with electrical instrumentalities, particularly when the coils have a noncircular conformation for use with the pole shoes of electric starting motors in the automotive field, has long been a problem with manufacturers of equipment of this type. For many years a cotton tape has been utilized for this purpose, and even though the operation has been partially mechanized, manual manipulation of the coil was necessary by an operator and a very high degree of manual skill and dexterity was necessary to place an even layer of cotton insulating tape on coils of this type. Often training periods of six months or more were necessary to give an operator the degree of skill necessary to obtain an acceptable insulating layer on coils with a fair degree of speed, so that the cost was maintained at acceptable levels. This operation also required a high degree of concentration, so that the job was tiring to an operator with the result that the job was unpopular in production lines and the workers would quit the job as quickly as possible to acquire a new job on production lines where the degree of skill and the need for concentrated effort was not so burdensome. This had the end result that the labor turnover in taping jobs was large and most of the operators were not working at this job sufficiently long to acquire the necessary skill, so that the results were not satisfactory and far too costly.

An attempt has been made in the industry to obviate this undesirable situation by using a liquid type of insulation which could be applied by a dipping step and subsequently baked and hardened. This solution was partially successful, but still Was too expensive, due to the high initial cost of the materials, and also due to the many rejects arising from uneven application of the insulating materials.

The present invention contemplates the provision of a machine which substantially mechanizes the taping step using the cotton tape as insulating material. The machine of the type disclosed removes the operation of taping coils from a highly skilled manipulation, so that an operator, after a very short period of training, can apply the insulating tape to coils with uniform results and at a speed which substantially lowers the cost of the insulating step. At the same time, the use of the machine obviates the labor problem by making the taping job on the production lines one that requires a much lower degree of skill and concentration, so that an average operator can perform it successfully with a reasonable amount of effort. The job becomes one of loading and unloading coils to and from the machine, with the cotton tape being automatically positioned on the coil by the machine. The use of the machine, which places an even layer of cotton tape on each coil, uniformly from coil to coil, saves a considerable amount of tape to thereby further reduce the cost, not to mention a better and more uniform insulation for the coils.

It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide a machine which automatically wraps a flexible insulating tape about a toroidal coil which is non-circular in conformation.

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It is a further object of this invention to provide a methed and a machine for taping electric coils of toroidal, noncircular shape, wherein the tape is applied in an even layer with uniform overlap, and wherein the tape is applied in close proximity to the terminal leads.

Other objects and advantages of this invention relating to the arrangement, operation and function of the related elements of the structure, to various details of construction, to combinations of parts and to economies of manufacture will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate parts in the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is. an elevational view of the machine as a whole.

FIGURE 1A is a perspective view of a coil on which the machine is adapted to wind tape as an insulation layer.

FIGURE 2 is a front elevational view of the machine.

FIGURE 3 is a sideelevational view of the machine taken opposite from the view shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a plan'view of the machine partly in section. I

FIGURE 5 is a rear elevational view of the machine.

FIGURE 6 is an elevational view partly in section of the winding element.

FIGURE 7 is an elevational view of a portion of the winlding element showing the beginning of the winding cyc e.

- FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 7 illustrating a more advanced phase of the winding cycle.

FIGURE 9 is an elevational view taken along the line 99 of FIGUREG.

FIGURES l0 and 11 are views of a portion of the winding mechanism. v

FIGURE 12 is an elevational view taken along the line 1212 of FIGURE 13.

,' FIGURE 13 is a plan view of the coil holding mechanism.

. FIGURE 14 is a view similar to FIGURE 12.

FIGURE 15 is a plan view similar to FIGURE 13. FIGURE 16 is a plan view partly in section of the coil holding mechanism.

FIGURE 17 is an elevational view partly in section showing one of the vertical spindles on the coil holding mechanism.

FIGURES 18 and 19 are plan views partly in section of the mechanism driving the coil holding device.

FIGURE 20 is an elevational view partly in section taken along the line 20-20 of FIGURE 19.

FIGURE 21 is an elevational view taken along the line 21-21 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURES 22, 23 and 24 are elevational views of the mechanism cooperating with the tape for the purpose of gripping its free end.

FIGURES 25, 26 and 27 are elevational views of the mechanism operating the device shown in FIGURES 22, 23 and 24 as shown in its varying positions.

FIGURE 28 is an elevational view of a machine element taken along the line 2828 of FIGURE 25.

FIGURE 29 is an elevational view in section of a machine element taken along the line 2929 of FIGURE 26.

FIGURE 30 is an elevational view partly in section taken along the line 3(l-30 of FIGURE 25 FIGURE 31 is an elevational view of a locking element taken along the line 3131 of FIGURE 25.

FIGURE 32 is a plan view partly in section of the main driving mechanism.

FIGURE 33 is an elevational view of the device shown in FIGURE 32. 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A MACHINE HAVING A HEAD FOR WRAPPING TAPE ABOUT TOROIDAL MEMBERS OF A FLEXIBLE HOLDING MEANS TO ENGAGE THE PERIMETER OF A TOROIDAL MEMBER AT SPACED POSITIONS, SAID FLEXIBLE HOLDING MEANS BEING FIXED AT A POINT ADJACENT THE HEAD, MEANS TO CAUSE THE FLEXIBLE HOLDING MEANS TO ROTATE THE TOROIDAL MEMBER TO PRESENT THE SIDES OF THE TOROIDAL MEMBER TO THE HEAD TO WRAP TAPE THEREON, AND MEANS TO GUIDE THE FLEXIBLE HOLDING MEANS WITH REFERENCE TO THE FIXED POINT IN A MANNER TO CAUSE THE FLEXIBLE HOLDING MEANS TO CONFORM TO THE PERIMETER OF THE MEMBER. 